


Panic! at the Disco

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Panic Attacks, Prompt Fill, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27122746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 18 "Panic! at the Disco"
Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956160
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Panic! at the Disco

Felicity glanced up from the bell peppers she’d been examining, pretending to know what she was looking for- now that it was her responsibility to provide for William as well as herself, she was determined to expand her repertoire beyond microwave dinners and takeout, no matter what it took- to find that she was alone. William, who’d been right by her side just moments ago, was gone. She glanced frantically around the produce section, but he was nowhere nearby either. For being a small town, Hope Springs’ local grocery store was usually surprisingly crowded, and wherever William had gone, Felicity knew that she might never find him with so many people around.

_ Alright, relax _ , she told herself.  _ He probably just went to look at something somewhere else and forgot to tell me that he was leaving. He’s thirteen. He’ll be fine on his own for a few minutes. _

No sooner had she thought it then Felicity realized that that would have only been true had she actually been the ordinary single mother she was pretending to be. For all she knew, Diaz could have found them by now. He could have been watching them, waiting for a moment, like now, that she and William were separated. For all she knew, he could already have him in his clutches.

Suddenly understanding the panic a mother felt when they lost their child at the store, Felicity bolted out of the produce section, ignoring the stares from the other shoppers, and made a lap of the store, scanning up and down every aisle, searching for the boy she had come to think of as her son. There was no sign of him, and as she came back around to the front of the store, she felt herself start to hyperventilate.

_ Damn it _ , she thought, angry with her own subconscious.  _ This is _ not  _ the time _ . But it was too late. In an instant, the oncoming panic attack had her, and she was powerless in its grip. She bent over, her hands on her knees, and began to try and slow her breathing and calm herself down enough to allow rational thought to return.

As this went on, with limited success, Felicity began to draw a crowd, which was the  _ last _ thing she wanted. She was trying  _ not _ to draw attention, after all. From the assembled onlookers came several queries of “Are you alright?” and when none of them received an answer, someone shouted “Someone called 911!”

“No, don’t!” Felicity cried. “There’s no need for that. I’m fine.” But she still hadn’t managed to pull herself out of her panic attack, and as such wasn’t making a particularly strong case for herself.

Suddenly, she heard William’s voice call out “Mom!” He only called her that in public, in order to maintain their cover, but it still stilled something inside of Felicity, helped to ease some of the panic gripping her. If he was bothering to continue maintaining their cover, that meant he was okay. 

In the next instant, William was in front of her, his hand on her shoulder, his blues eyes- his father’s eyes- looking into her own.

“It’s okay, Mom,” he said. “It’s alright. Just breathe.” He took slow, deep breaths in and out until she followed his lead. Eventually, she felt her panic start to ease, and finally fade altogether. 

“It’s okay,” William told the still lingering crowd. “It was just a panic attack. Everything’s fine now.” He said this in a calm, even tone that reminded Felicity of nothing so much as Oliver in all the moments that he had had to talk someone down, and all she could do was stare at him. Oliver had often lamented to her that William had had to grow up too fast, and now, at last, she finally saw what he meant.


End file.
